The Kerala Police on Tuesday, 19 July, arrested five women who were on duty when girl students appearing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) were asked to take off their underwear in Kollam, on 17 July.
The police had earlier registered a case against the friskers after a team of women officers recorded the statement of a girl who was allegedly subjected to humiliation while appearing for the NEET on Sunday at the Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology, Ayur.
A fact-finding committee has also been constituted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to ascertain the details of the case.
"Further action will be taken based on the report of the fact-finding," the Education Ministry told ANI.
On the basis of a complaint, a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
The Incident
Young women and girls who appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at a private educational institution in Kollam district of Kerala, suffered a humiliating experience on Sunday, 17 July, when they had to allegedly remove part of their undergarments to be allowed to write the exam.
According to the father of one 17-year-old girl, who was sitting for her first-ever NEET, his daughter is yet to recover from the traumatic experience, wherein she had to sit for the 3-hour long exam without wearing a brassiere.
He further added that his daughter was dressed as per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin, which did not say anything about innerwear.
He also said that he lodged a complaint at the Kottarakkara deputy SP's office regarding the incident on his way back home from the exam centre.
He further said that his daughter, who is a brilliant student, was yet to recover from the experience and is sitting in a room without speaking to anyone.
"We expected her to get into one of the national level colleges, but she could not concentrate during the test because of what happened," he said.
He said that his elder daughter too had appeared for medical entrance exams in the past, but this was a first-of-its-kind experience for them.
NTA Denies Incident
However, in contradiction with the alleged incident, officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the central government agency which conducts entrance examinations for educational institutions, said that they did not find any such incident to have happened in the NEET examination centre, reported news agency ANI.
"No complaint or representation has been received by us. On basis of claims in media reports, an immediate report was sought from the centre superintendent and observer," the NTA said.
"They have informed that no such incident took place and the complaint is fictitious and has been filed with wrong intentions," a senior official of the agency told the media.
The NEET dress code does not permit any such activity as alleged by the parent of the candidate. The code provides for ensuring sanctity and fairness of exam while observing sensitivity towards gender, culture, and religion during frisking of candidates, the official added.
'Huge Error on Part of the Agency': Kerala Education Minister
Condemning the incident, Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu on Monday said that the 'Kerala government will make its displeasure regarding this incident known to the Union government.'
"It is reprehensible that girl students who appeared for the NEET-UG exam in Kollam were made to remove their innerwear before entering the exam hall. It is learnt that this was done by people from the agency conducting the examination," Bindu said.
"This was a huge error on the part of the agency, one that is sure to have impacted the mental bearing of the students while writing the exam. Such an act, carried out without even taking basic human rights into consideration, was completely irresponsible to say the least," she added.
She also wrote a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, describing the incident as a 'naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girl students' who appeared for the NEET.
She further said that an agency entrusted with the conduct of the examination, allegedly forced the girl participants to strip before entering the test centre for reasons known only to themselves.
"The shame and shock of this unexpected turn of events have affected the morale and composure of the students whose performance in the test was consequently affected," Bindu said.
She concluded her letter by recommending action against the agency to prevent future occurrences of a similar nature and sought the Union minister's intervention in the matter.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission on Monday ordered an investigation into the incident. It directed the Kollam Rural SP to file a report within 15 days.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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